Lin Zexu, a Marquis of Fujian Province, a politician, thinker, and poet of the Qing Dynasty, served as governor of Huguang, Shaanxi-Gansu, and Yunnan-Guizhou. He was appointed imperial minister twice. He is famous for his "ban on smoking" and is one of the "smoking bans" in modern China. Open your eyes and see the first person in the world."

In 1839, when Lin Zexu was banning smoking in Guangdong, he sent people to investigate and secretly investigate, forcing foreign opium merchants to hand over opium, and the confiscated opium was destroyed in Humen on June 3, 1839.

The late Qing thinker Wei Yuan compiled the documents translated by Lin Zexu and his staff into "Hai Guo Tu Zhi". This book inspired the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and even Japan's Meiji Restoration.

Lin Zexu’s childhood was poor, but he had a warm and big family. His father was a local teacher, and Lin Zexu was his second son. Lin's father attached great importance to education. When he was four years old, his father took him to a private school to teach him how to read. His father carefully cultivated the talented and intelligent Lin Zexu, believing that his son would definitely achieve great achievements when he grew up. When Lin Zexu was eight years old, he wrote a poem in school, "The sea reaches the endless sky and the sky forms the shore; the mountain reaches the top and I am the peak." This poem shocked everyone. From a young age, this child is still young, but he has a big picture in his heart. People who have a big picture will definitely achieve something.

Zheng Damo, the magistrate of Yongcheng County, Henan Province, once met Lin Zexu. Seeing that he was quick and extraordinary in literary thinking, he thought that this son would become a great person, so he paid attention to him. Facts have proved that this magistrate is very discerning. In 1804, Lin Zexu took part in the provincial examination and passed the examination. On the day when the results were announced, he officially married Zheng Shuqing, Zheng Damo's daughter.

In the 11th year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu served as secretary of Xiamen Coast Defense, responsible for handling the paperwork of merchants, foreign ships, rice, grain and soldiers' pay. During his tenure, he was appreciated by Zhang Shicheng, the governor of Fujian, who recruited him as his staff and taught Lin Zexu his knowledge and political skills in public affairs. When the pirates were suppressed in the 14th year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu was also brought along, so that Lin Zexu gained experience in participating. At the end of the year, Zhang Shicheng also recommended Lin Zexu's father to serve as the director of Lezheng Academy, which improved the Lin family's economic situation.

In the 16th year of Jiaqing, 26-year-old Lin Zexu went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. He ranked second and fourth in the imperial examination. He was selected as a common scholar and was awarded the Imperial Academy editorship. From then on, he embarked on the road of officialdom.

Lin Zexu stayed in the Hanlin Academy for seven years. In the 19th year of Jiaqing, he joined the Xuannan Poetry Society composed of low-status Beijing officials, met Gong Zizhen, Wei Yuan and others, and became their leader.

In the 21st year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu left the Hanlin Academy and went to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province to serve as an examiner. His father wrote to him specifically, asking Lin Zexu to select talents carefully. During his tenure as an examiner, Lin Zexu was fair and serious and gained a good reputation.

In the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, Lin Zexu was appointed as the supervisory censor of Jiangnan Province. At that time, there was a gap in the embankment on the south bank of Henan Province, and Qishan, the governor of Henan Province, failed to handle matters, causing a major flood. Lin Zexu wrote to Emperor Jiaqing, accusing Qi Shan of being incompetent.

Lin Zexu was not afraid of power, was an honest official, upright and courageous, wanted to do things and was able to do them. However, some bureaucrats were suspicious of him, sarcastic, and even hated him, which inevitably caused trouble. Lin Zexu was tired of officialdom. Later, his father was critically ill, and Lin Zexu resigned from his post on the grounds of taking care of his father.

Lin Zexu's parents were very opposed to Lin Zexu's resignation. Moreover, Lin Zexu resigned and had no other skills to rely on for survival when he returned to his hometown, so he had to reluctantly find a way to return to officialdom. Emperor Daoguang knew that Lin Zexu was a talented person, so he specially summoned him to praise him and reinstated Lin Zexu to his post. With Emperor Daoguang's love and trust, Lin Zexu's life was over.

In the third year of Daoguang's reign, Lin Zexu was appointed as the inspector of Jiangsu Province. During his tenure, he made great achievements, rectifying the administration of officials, reforming trial procedures, and personally adjudicating cases. He even went so far as to sneak around in the dark, conduct overt and covert investigations, and perform autopsies himself. Within just four months of taking office, he solved nine out of ten cases in Jiangsu's backlog, and was praised as "Lin Qingtian" by the people of Jiangsu. He also believed that Jiangsu's corruption was entirely due to opium's harm to people, so he ordered Jiangsu to ban smoking.

In the tenth year of Daoguang's reign, he served as the chief envoy of Hubei Province, and was later promoted to the governor of Donghe River. In order to regulate the Yellow River, Lin Zexu personally braved the cold wind and walked hundreds of miles to check the terrain and water flow conditions along the river.

In the 17th year of Daoguang's reign, Lin Zexu was promoted to governor of Huguang.

Faced with the situation where rivers in Hubei often overflow and cause disasters in summer, Lin Zexu took effective measures and proposed "paying equal attention to repair and prevention", so that thousands of miles of embankments in Jianghan were safe and peaceful, and no one was overflowing.

On November 15, the 18th year of Daoguang's reign, Lin Zexu was appointed as the imperial envoy to investigate and deal with the smoking ban in Guangzhou.

Lin Zexu searched various opium dens and obtained a large amount of first-hand information. Together with Deng Yanzhen and others, he summoned 13 foreign merchants, ordered the foreign opium dealers to pay the cigarettes within a time limit, and pledged to never bring opium into China in the future. .

Foreign businessmen refused to hand over the opium, and Lin Zexu fought resolutely against them. Lin Zexu solemnly declared: "If the opium continues for a day, and I will not return for a day, I swear to fight this matter to the end, and there will be no reason to stop." In the end, he defeated the British commercial supervisory law in China and many opium dealers, and confiscated all the opium. , about 2.37 million kilograms, nearly 20,000 boxes. On June 3, opium was destroyed in public on Humen Beach.

This is the famous "Humen Burning Opium". The elimination of opium in Humen greatly pleased people's hearts, and Lin Zexu was called a "national hero" and famous both at home and abroad.

The anti-smoking campaign was fully affirmed by Emperor Daoguang. Emperor Daoguang was overjoyed when he read Lin Zexu's report on opium sales in Humen. Soon after Lin Zexu's 55th birthday, Emperor Daoguang personally wrote a horizontal plaque with the words "Fu" and "Shou" in regular script and sent it to Guangzhou as a reward.

However, the smoking ban and the anti-British resistance also brought disaster to the loyal Lin Zexu. Lin Zexu later became a "criminal official" of the imperial court and suffered five years of exile.

Not long after the smoking ban, the situation faced by Lin Zexu deteriorated rapidly.

In June 1840, the British army sent a fleet to blockade the Pearl River Estuary and began to attack Guangzhou. Lin Zexu deployed his defenses tightly, but the British attack failed. After being blocked, the British army moved north along the coast, captured Dinghai, and then arrived at Dagukou, Tianjin, threatening Beijing's security.

Emperor Daoguang was panicked and urgently ordered Qishan, the governor of Zhili, to negotiate peace. Want to use Lin Zexu as a "scapegoat".

Since then, various slanders, blows and accusations have fallen on Lin Zexu one after another. Of course Qi Shan would not miss this opportunity to frame and retaliate against Lin Zexu. He sinisterly claimed that Lin Zexu was the only one Britain was dissatisfied with, and that as long as the court punished Lin Zexu, all problems would be solved.

At this time, Lin Zexu, still regardless of personal safety and honor, went to the memorial twice to boldly state the rationality and justice of the anti-smoking campaign against the British, hoping that the imperial court would resolutely continue to carry out the anti-smoking campaign, expel foreigners, and confiscate opium. But Emperor Daoguang, who was corrupt, incompetent and afraid of foreigners, seemed to be a different person. He was no longer the one who appreciated and praised Lin Zexu before. Daoguang turned his back on Lin Zexu and accused Lin Zexu of being "completely nonsense." Lin Zexu was angry but could do nothing. If you want to kill a thief, you can't save him.

Emperor Daoguang decreed that Lin Zexu be dismissed from his post and dealt with strictly, and the new imperial envoy Qi Shan interrogated and punished him. On May 1, 1841, Lin Zexu was demoted to the rank of fourth-rank minister and rushed to Zhenhai, Zhejiang to await the imperial edict. After arriving in Zhenhai, Lin Zexu actively participated in local coastal defense construction. Soon, General Yishan was defeated in a battle with the British army. In order to absolve himself of the blame, he spread rumors that the British were willing to negotiate peace. The only person they hated was Lin Zexu. Lin Zexu must be punished again before the British are willing to stop their troops and negotiate peace. Emperor Daoguang was eager to seek peace, so he once again blamed Lin Zexu for the defeat of Guangzhou, dismissed Lin Zexu from his post, and was reassigned to Yili, Xinjiang.

Lin Zexu, who was framed by the capitulationists, embarked on his march westward. When saying goodbye to his family, Lin Zexu angrily wrote the famous poem "If you live and die for the benefit of the country, how can you avoid it for the sake of misfortune and fortune?" This is a vivid expression of Lin Zexu's ardent patriotic sentiments and a portrayal of the strong and profound sentiments of a national hero who is loyal to the king and the country.

In November 1850, 66-year-old Lin Zexu, who had gone through many ups and downs, pointed to the sky and called "Star Dou Nan" three times and passed away.

Lin Zexu was "the first person to wake up from the feudal secluded lethargy and open his eyes to see the world with a new attitude." When Lin Zexu presided over the anti-smoking ban and fought against the invaders in Guangzhou, he was deeply aware of the Chinese people's lack of Western knowledge and ignorance of the world outside the dynasty.

By translating foreign newspapers and books and analyzing foreign political, legal, military, economic, cultural and other aspects, Lin Zexu realized that only by learning from Western countries could he resist aggression.

Lin Zexu proposed the idea of ??"learning from the skills of the barbarians to control them."

He suggested that the imperial court build artillery and ships; he personally chaired and organized a translation team to translate foreign books and periodicals, and translated foreigners' remarks about China into "Hua Shi Yi Yan"; in order to understand foreign military, political, and economic Information, the "Guangzhou Weekly" sponsored by British businessmen was translated into the "Macau News"; in order to understand Western geography, history, and politics, and to introduce the situation of various countries in the world in a more systematic way, it also organized the translation of the British "World Geography" by Murray Complete Collection", compiled into "Four Continents Chronicles".

In order to meet the needs of the struggle against enemies and foreign negotiations at that time, Lin Zexu asked people to quickly compile "International Law". This was an epoch-making event in the history of Chinese international law. It marked the beginning of the official dissemination of Western international law works. The entry into China marked the beginning of the application of modern international law in my country's foreign affairs, marking the beginning of the history of modern international law in China. Theoretically speaking, Lin Zexu was the first person to introduce international law to China, the forerunner of China's modern diplomacy, and the founder of Chinese international law.

Lin Zexu has been in politics for 40 years and served in 13 provinces. When the Chinese nation was facing the critical moment of being reduced to a semi-colonial state, he stepped forward and personally "ignored the good and the bad" and resolutely implemented the smoking ban. Resisted foreign armed aggression and defended national sovereignty and territory. It also advocates learning advanced Western technology and developing national industry and commerce. He showed a meticulous spirit at all times. "Nothing is taken seriously."

Although Lin Zexu could not save the Qing Dynasty from destruction, everything he did with all his heart and soul brought benefits to the country and the people. Every time Lin Zexu held a position, every time he did something, he was never sloppy.

In "The History of the Foreign Relations of the Chinese Empire" written by an American scholar, Lin Zexu was praised as an administrative official with extraordinary abilities. "The entire experience of Imperial Envoy Lin is as clear as crystal." The famous British expert on Hong Kong history, Ann De Gee mentioned in "Hong Kong History" that Lin Zexu's anti-smoking campaign was launched with decisiveness and lightning speed, which completely surprised the British. They did not expect that Lin Zexu would use his decisiveness, vitality and dedication to China's interests. spirit into action. Chinese-American scholar Zhang Xinbao said in "Envoy Lin and the Opium War" that Lin Zexu was famous for his diligence, strong desire to improve government work, and belief in doing his best to benefit the people.

When Lin Zexu was not engaged in politics, he liked to collect books and his calligraphy was also very good. Concentrate on collecting all kinds of books from previous dynasties and contemporary times. The library has "Seventy-two Peaks Tower" and "Yunzuo Mountain Room", which are dedicated to storing books, with an accumulation of more than thirty couplets. When he was demoted to Yili, he used 7 carts carrying 20 boxes of books.

Lin Zexu said: If you seek to benefit the country's life and death, why should you avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings? If it is good for the country, I will risk my life or death. Is it possible to avoid disasters and step forward to welcome blessings? Let us reread this poem by Lin Zexu and feel his broad sentiments.